Surfers head down to the popular Lunada Bay surf spot Friday where a group of non-locals came to surf the waves. Palos Verdes Estates Police were on hand along Paseo Del Mar as well as below down at the surf line where local surfers gather. File photo, Jan. 12, 2016. (Brad Graverson / Staff Photographer)

A federal class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Lunada Bay Boys, a group of territorial Palos Verdes Estates surfers known for intimidating visitors from their beloved coastal bluff, argues that the group is a criminal street gang and should be banned from gathering together.

The suit seeks a gang injunction against the tight-knit group, stating that they “not only confront and attack other (beachgoers), but also confront, threaten to kill, assault, vandalize property, extort, and bring harm to other persons.”

The Lunada Bay Boys’ “severe localism combined with Palos Verdes Estates’ historic disinterest in investigating” their crimes represents a large-scale violation of constitutional rights of anyone who wants to enjoy the beach, the lawsuit states. “By law, Lunada Bay is open to all. In reality, it is open to few.”

El Segundo Police Officer Cory Spencer filed the suit with another surfer, Diana Milena Reed, on behalf of themselves and others who say the Bay Boys have verbally and violently attacked them for encroaching on a part of the beach they claim for themselves.

In addition to a gang injunction that would make it illegal for the Bay Boys to congregate together in the city, Reed and Spencer are seeking numerous fines and payments for emotional and physical damages.

“Even though Palos Verdes Estates is an exclusive community with more than 40 police personnel, Spencer and other surfers had to pay a security guard $100 to watch their vehicles to protect the vehicles from vandalism while they surfed,” the lawsuit states. “Reed was extremely frightened and felt endangered and in fear of assault. Never in her life had she been screamed and yelled at in such a manner. The man called her a whore.”

Unique surf spot

Lunada Bay is considered to be special for surfers, with winter waves rolling in untouched by any coastline, creating an expert break, with 15-20 foot high waves that are not meant for beginners.

Hazing and surfing often go together, especially as surfers compete for a limited number of waves. But Lunada Bay’s international reputation for being unfriendly to outsiders has been firmly established for decades. The group has been widely accused of verbally and physically attacking visitors, and outsiders have returned to their cars to find tires flattened or antennas snapped or profanities scrawled in wax on their windshields. This is the third civil-rights lawsuit filed against the Bay Boys since 1995.

In 2014, a large group of surfers converged at the spot in protest of localism, with police monitoring the event.

City and police officials have long been accused of looking the other way. They say patrolling Lunada Bay and other areas of the bluffs is a challenge because the beaches are remote areas accessible only by winding trails and steep steps.

But the lawsuit lays blame on the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, arguing the agency ignored the problem and, therefore, the city does not provide constitutionally required equal protection under the law.

“Plaintiffs are suffering ongoing irreparable harm, including loss of sleep, emotional distress, and mental anguish as a proximate result of Palos Verdes Estates and Defendant Chief of Police Jeff Kepley’s deliberate indifference to Plaintiff’s rights,” the suit says.

The lawsuit argues the group of surfers is a criminal gang and should be prevented from gathering and intimidating outsiders.

“Defendant Lunada Bay Boys claims gang territory or ‘turf’ within the City of Palos Verdes Estates’ Lunada Bay neighborhood,” it states. “A criminal street gang as defined in California Penal Code … is a group of three or more individuals with a common name or a common symbol and whose members individually or collectively, engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and has as one of its primary activities the commission of enumerated ‘predicate crimes,’ including but not limited to assault, battery, vandalism, intimidation, harassment, extortion.”

The Bay Boys also violated the California Coastal Act by constructing an illegal development — a fort — at the base of the bluffs, the lawsuit states. In January, the California Coastal Commission sent a letter to city officials expressing concern about the fort.

Sandy Mazza is a freelancer. She previously worked for Southern California News Group as a city reporter covering Carson and Hawthorne and specializing in features about Los Angeles' growing Silicon Beach tech, bioscience, and aerospace sectors.